New Delhi [India], May 7 : Indian veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin overtook compatriot and spinner Amit Mishra to become the sixth-highest wicket-taker in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history on Tuesday.
Ashwin accomplished this movement up the charts in his side's match against Delhi Capitals (DC) at Arun Jaitley Stadium here.
In the match, Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for RR, taking 3/24 in four overs at an economy rate of 6.00. He got the big wickets of Jake Fraser McGurk, Abhishek Porel and Axar Patel which helped his side put brakes on run-scoring for a while.
Now in 207 matches, he has taken 176 wickets at an average of 29.77, with the best bowling figures of 4/34, overtaking Mishra's tally of 174 wickets in 162 matches.
Ashwin represented Chennai Super Kings (CSK) from 2008-15, Rising Pune Supergiant (RPG) from 2016-17, Punjab Kings (2018-19), Delhi Capitals (2020-21) and Rajasthan Royals (2022-present). He took 90 wickets in 97 matches for CSK, 20 wickets for DC in 28 matches, 25 wickets in 28 matches for Punjab Kings, 10 wickets in 14 matches for RPG and now 31 wickets in 40 games for Rajasthan Royals.
Coming to the game, RR opted to bowl first after winning the toss. For Delhi, Jake Fraser McGurk (50 in 20 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) and Abhishek Porel (63 in 36 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) set the tone with aggressive half-centuries. However, Delhi lost wickets in between. Towards, the end, Tristan Stubbs (41 in 20 balls, with three fours and three sixes) put up an entertaining cameo and helped DC reach 221/8 in their 20 overs.
DC needs to defend 222 runs to get their sixth win of the tournament and boost their top four prospects while a win will take RR back to the top.